Context: Recently, Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science & Technology Mohali have developed an oral nanomedicine for Kala-Azar.
Key Points

• Kala- Azar is one of the most neglected tropical diseases.
• The oral nanomedicine is manufactured with the help of surface-modified solid lipid nanoparticles based combinational cargo system for combating the disease.
• The solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) can help enhance the oral uptake of the therapeutic agent by retaining a solubilized state of the drug in the Gastrointestinal Tract.
• The oral therapeutics is expected to help in the control and its elimination.

Importance of this study

• This study may lead to product and process patent enhancing the role of India in developing innovative therapy against neglected diseases.
• The usage of a lower therapeutic dose of the purified drugs through nanomodifications will be a boon in reducing toxicity, which has been a major hindrance in the existing conventional treatment when administered orally.
• The oral therapeutics could help in the control and elimination of VL, around 95 % of which is reported from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nepal, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

About Kala Azar

• Visceral leishmaniasis or kala-azar is a slow progressing Neglected Tropical Disease caused by a protozoan parasite of genus Leishmania.
• It is a zoonotic infection transmitted by the sand fly, a blood-sucking pest, found in moist (humid) mud and sand and close to livestock.
• The parasite primarily infects the reticuloendothelial system and may be found in abundance in bone marrow, spleen and liver.
• Signs and symptoms: Fever, weight loss, fatigue, anaemia, and substantial swelling of liver and spleen.

Occurrence

• It is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world after Malaria.
• Mainly affects poor people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and associated with malnutrition, population displacement, poor housing, weak immune system and lack of resources.
• Around 95 % of which is reported from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nepal, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
• It is treatable and requires a medical diagnosis.
• If untreated, the fatality rate in developing countries can be as high as 100%.